Our firm’s partner, Ms. Sherlynn Chan, was invited to be the guest lecturer of a webinar titled “Civil Aspects of Mental Health Law – Committee, Guardianship and Advance Care Planning” for the University of Hong Kong on 25 March 2020.

The students in this 3-hour interactive seminar were from various programmes, including LLM programmes, the JD programme, and the Master of Public Health programme. The lecture covered an overview of Parts II and IVB of the Mental Health Ordinance (Cap. 136) and other planning tools available to “prevent, protect and prepare”, such as Advance Care Planning, Enduring Powers of Attorney, and Continuing Powers of Attorney.

There were engaging discussions on the potential issues vulnerable elderly persons face in our society, the inadequacy of Hong Kong’s current regime in protecting such persons, and different ways to reform the Committee and Guardianship regimes.

For more information or enquiries, please contact Ms. Sherlynn Chan.

Stevenson, Wong & Co. acted as the Hong Kong legal advisers to Sunlight Technology Holdings Limited (Stock Code: 1950) (“Sunlight Technology”) in its successful listing on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the “Stock Exchange”).

From left to right: SW Partner – Mr. Rodney Teoh, Ms. Liu Jing (Sunlight Technology: Executive Director and Chairman of Board), Mr. Chen Hua (Sunlight Technology: Executive Director), SW Partner – Mr. Hank Lo and Associate – Mr. John Fu

The shares of Sunlight Technology were listed on the Stock Exchange on 12 March 2020. Sunlight Technology offered a total of 250 million shares, among which 25 million shares were offered under the Hong Kong public offering and 225 million shares were offered under the international placing. The final offer price has been determined at HK$0.52 per offer share, and the net proceeds from the global offering are approximately HK$84.7 million.

Sunlight Technology and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) are an established faux leather chemicals manufacturer in the PRC principally engaged in the research and development, manufacturing and sale of coating agents and synthetic resins under the established brand of “深蓝科技”. According to a report commissioned by the Group and independently prepared by an industry consultant, the Group ranked 4th in the faux leather coating agents market in the PRC in terms of revenue in 2018.

From left to right: Sunlight Technology: Executive Director and Chairman of Board – Ms. Liu Jing and Executive Director – Mr. Chen Hua

The sole sponsor of the listing was Giraffe Capital Limited. The joint global coordinators were Giraffe Capital Limited and ChaoShang Securities Limited.

Our team was led by our partners Hank Lo and Rodney Teoh, supported by team members including Ellie Cheung (associate), John Fu (associate) and Claire Sit (associate).

Please contact our Mr. Hank Lo or Mr. Rodney Teoh for any enquiries or further information.

(中文) 受新型冠状病毒疫情 (以下简称「疫情」) 的影响，香港司法机构于2020年1月29日起将法庭程序 (除紧急和必要的聆讯外的) 一般延期[1]，在一般延期期间，2020年2月21日，香港高等法院高浩文法官 (Hon Coleman J) 在Audio Video Technology Limited v Mei Ah (HK) Company Limited & Ors [2020] HKCFI 347一案中作出裁定[2]，允许该案的证人在海外通过香港高等法院科技法庭[3] 的视像会议设备，以电话的方式参与聆讯并作供。法官在判词中指出，虽然「出庭」一般被理解为需亲身出庭，但《高等法院条例》和《高等法院规则》并没有禁止与讼当事人及其代表以其他方法出席聆讯，另外，法官亦引述了在商事仲裁的指示聆讯中，电话聆讯已是常规作法。

高浩文法官在判词后记中称，2020年2月25日的电话会议聆讯顺利，没有技术性困难，与讼双方的资深大律师和律师代表等人士均以电话拨入的方式参与了聆讯。

本案影响：

正如法官在判词中所言，疫情亦是一个契机，使香港法庭及与讼当事人考量如何更好地进行案件管理，并在疫情过后，考量是否会采用电话或视像聆讯的方式处理案件。

香港作为亚太区的争议解决中心，正积极利用科技手段，推动网上争议解决平台的建设，为当事人提供更高效、优质和便捷的争议解决服务，除前文述及的科技法庭外，近年来在香港法律界、互联网界及特区政府等多方支持下，筹建了网上争议解决及交易平台——一邦国际网上仲调中心 (eBRAM) [4]，为当事人提供高效、便捷和经济的网上仲裁、谈判、调解等专业服务。

本案为香港法院采用电话方式进行聆讯的案件，为案件管理开创了新方式，但法院是否会继续采用相似方式进行聆讯或其他程序，亦需视乎不同的个案情况以及法院的考量。

[1] 有关该裁定的判词原文，请参阅：https://legalref.judiciary.hk/lrs/common/ju/ju_frame.jsp?DIS=126924&currpage=T

[2] 有关香港科技法庭的相关信息，请参阅：https://www.judiciary.hk/zh/court_services_facilities/tech_crt.html

[3] 有关香港司法机构公布的为恢复法庭程序作准备的新闻稿，请参阅https://sc.isd.gov.hk/TuniS/www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202002/27/P2020022700474.htm

[4] 有关eBRAM的相关信息，请参阅：http://ebram.org/

若阁下想了解更多关于本文及本所的信息，请联络本所合伙人，诉讼及争议解决部主管徐凯怡律师 heidichui.office@sw-hk.com。

本文免责声明：本文中提供的一切信息仅供读者参阅，不构成史蒂文生黄律师事务所的任何法律意见，若阁下需取得相关法律意见，请咨询专业法律顾问。

We are delighted to announce that Stevenson, Wong & Co. has been recognised as “Family Law Firm of the Year-Hong Kong” in The Legal 100 – 2020 by Lawyer International for the third consecutive year.

The award recognizes leading professional firms and individuals across the globe for their individual areas of specialization. It aims to showcase the firms and individuals that continually provide clients with outstanding levels of service and result.

The judging panel consisted of in-house counsels, individuals from Banking and Private Equity to public and private corporations. Winners are recognised for their innovation, level of service and overall value for money.

About Stevenson, Wong & Co.

Founded in 1978, Stevenson, Wong & Co. is a forward-looking, full-service law firm with over 170 experienced lawyers and staff. As the associated firm with one of the nation’s largest full-service law firms, AllBright Law Offices, and one of the founding members of INTERLAW, Stevenson, Wong & Co. supports clients around the globe and connects China to the world.

Our private client team is one of the leading private client practices in Hong Kong with over 40 years of experience. Our dedicated team has expertise in dealing with all aspects of contentious and non-contentious family matters, covering wealth protection and succession planning, estates and trusts, Committee work, wealth and asset management, all under one roof.

For more information, please contact Ms. Catherine Por.